Bad setup or bad hardware?

sitchey

sitchey

sitchey

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Joined
1 Apr 2022
Posts
4
Location
Ireland
Hi everyone

I'm looking for a bit of advice on my network setup to see if there is an issue that I can resolve due to a bad setup, or if there is a better layout/hardware to help.

You can view a very rough sketch here to give you an idea of the setup along with the below info.


Internet
The only broadband I have in my area is satellite, so I have a dish on the house with a Vodafone monthly unlimited data sim in it. The dish is hard-wired to a TP-Link Archer A5 router for power and to share the internet signal. The main reason the router is there is that it was supplied with the dish and has POE to power the dish.

The speed tests on the internet are not bad. On speedtest.net they average around

LAN connected device (during peak period)
  • 40mb download
  • 15mb upload
  • 37ms ping

Wifi connected device (during peak period)
  • 13mb download
  • 5mb upload
  • 53ms ping

LAN
I have a small LAN made up via network cables dropped into 8 rooms and 3 unmanaged switches. All the cables are fed back to one main server room which has an unmanaged switch. Two smaller 6 port unmanaged switches are in the office and living room to expand the LAN network there. All the switches are netgear.

What's connected
  • 14 devices that are mainly TVs, printer, game consoles etc

The main switch in the server room is connected to my mesh system to let those devices be part of the same network.


WIFI
I have a wireless mesh system setup which is a TP-Link Deco m5 system. I have the main deco plugged into the TP router, plus 8 others dotted around the house connected to the main unit wirelessly. Its setup in wireless router mode.

I'm running a main network (2.4ghz as some devices can't use 5ghz) along with a guest network (never really used). I don't have static IPs set apart from one device (NAS drive)

What's connected
  • The main netgear switch (above)
  • It also has a range of wifi only devices such as Alexa, eufy smart plugs, nest heating, hue lights, nest doorbell, mobiles etc.
  • Including the LAN connected devices its around 45-55 devices connected at the min

Issues
What is happening is that the network drops connection. Some devices (mainly the nest) keep reporting massive ping rates (150-200ms+) and keep losing connection. When I walk around with a mobile or laptop on wifi, at random times you remain connected to the network but the internet drops. You then have to turn the wifi off and on again on the device to resolve. Then when there is a power cut or the main deco crashes, the whole system needs restarted as a lot of devices get IP address issues.

I don’t know if it’s a result of my bad setup (just expanding the network with more stuff) or if some of the main devices I have (like the Decos) are just crap and should be replaced. It might just be that it’s the joys of having a satellite internet connection and something I have to live with.

I have a feeling it’s the Deco not being able to cope with the number of devices connected. I want to run a test that would remove the TP Link router and some of the Decos. Adding in a netgear RAX200 as the main hub, connect the LAN to that and just add a few WIFI extenders around the house as needed.

But would welcome any input and suggestions on improving my woes.

Thanks
 
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When you say the network drops, do you also mean wired devices?

Can you confirm if you have any switch loops? As this is bad. Ie, switch 1 connected to switch 2, which is then connected to switch 3, and this back to switch 1. Any kind of loop will cause havoc, including for example 2 cables between two switches.

Also it sounds like you have have multiple DHCP servers, I am not familiar with the TP mesh system but can this hand out IP addresses as well as the router?
 
Hi. No I don't have any switch loops. It is mainly the WiFi devices that drop. The LAN items do sometimes, but its mainly wireless.

With the two routers (the tp link and the deco), the TP Link is on a different LAN IP. It has DHCP enabled as it gives the Deco that is connected to it Internet access. But nothing else is connected to that router. The main Deco has DHCP on as it manages all devices (LAN and wifi). The other decos don't have DHCP as they are just access points extending the WiFi range.

To be honest I think it's clunky having two routers. I want to try and remove them with this better range Netgear hub. I might also be able to ditch the Decos or use only a few as just access points, but let the Netgear hub be the only hub. So turning the decos to access point only means it's just the netgear hub that hands out addresses. The only issue with the mesh is that the main unit needs to be connected to your router via cable. I could try plugging it into one of the network sockets in a different room so it's not beside the new netgear hub.

That's the plan this weekend anyway to test and see if it improves.
 
i have had similar issues and it took a while to sort out. trying to get the router to do some bits and deco others just sounded very like what you are experiencing. letting the deco manage dhcp sorted things
what worked for me is vdsl---draytek router---main deco (using LAN port on router to ethernet port on the deco) then ethernet cable from the 2nd ethernet port on the deco to my main 16port switch and the rest of the home network
when i initially connected draytek router to the deco i used the drayteks wan port to the deco ethernet port and it didnt really work, using the routers LAN port instead solved it all for me.
i turned the wireless off in the router and let the deco manage it all. i can still access the draytek via 192.168.1.1 but all the other device IPs on the network are dished out by the deco using 192.168.68.x
deco is in wireless router mode with fast roaming enabled
not sure if this helps but just ask if there are any particular settings you want me to check.
 
Not sure about the Deco M5, but on my Deco X60 I noticed something similar with the internet stalling, for both Wi-fi and LAN devices. I turned the Deco from router mode to access point mode, then used my old Asus to serve as the router, and that instantly solved my problem. A similar problem cropped up for a friend's M4, I recommended them to try AP mode and that fixed it for them too.

Are you sure the Archer A5 is powering the dish? I can't see anything about it having PoE, are you sure the dish is not getting power from else where? If it is, then you're not tied to it and you can just swap it with the Netgear you're planning. Just a heads up though for the mesh to properly work with zero handoff and all that I wouldn't bother having the Netgear's Wi-fi on.
 
Thanks

Yea I have tried the Deco in access point mode and seems a bit more stable. The new netgear router i have is the main router and handles DHCP.



Orcvader said:
Not sure about the Deco M5, but on my Deco X60 I noticed something similar with the internet stalling, for both Wi-fi and LAN devices. I turned the Deco from router mode to access point mode, then used my old Asus to serve as the router, and that instantly solved my problem. A similar problem cropped up for a friend's M4, I recommended them to try AP mode and that fixed it for them too.

Are you sure the Archer A5 is powering the dish? I can't see anything about it having PoE, are you sure the dish is not getting power from else where? If it is, then you're not tied to it and you can just swap it with the Netgear you're planning. Just a heads up though for the mesh to properly work with zero handoff and all that I wouldn't bother having the Netgear's Wi-fi on.
Click to expand...
 
I have cable points all over the house so can add it wifi access points. Are there any you see are good and stable?

I take it you are saying these ones
https://eu.store.ui.com/products/unifi-ap-6-lite

Can you hard wire any to these? I have a few hue bridges and they need wired to a router. So if these only have one port would mean I can't connect them to that

I've tried a netgear orbi mesh wif 6 mesh system and it's going back. Absolute crap


bledd said:
I would ditch extenders and run cables to where you need WiFi, then use Ubiquiti access points.

I'm not a fan of mesh.
Click to expand...
 
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